


The Garden of Unearthly Delights

by JadeLotus (Lotusflower85)



Series: A Year in the Life [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-03-30 09:06:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3931084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotusflower85/pseuds/JadeLotus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke and Mara celebrate the Spring Equinox on New Alderaan</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day

The exit from hyperspace was designed to be a smooth transition, with no adverse affect on those within a ship. That was of course as long as the jump had been calculated correctly and the pilot’s hand steady bringing the ship back into normal space. Most sentients never even noticed that their bodies, being transported between stars at impossible speeds, were suddenly compressed back into themselves at an impact ten thousand times more violent than a speeder crash.   
  
But Luke Skywalker was not like most sentients, and he keenly felt the transition; the Force coming back into focus with shattering impact. Even with Mara’s expert piloting of her state-of-the-art ship the  _Jade Sabre_ , Luke was jolted from sleep as it came out of hyperspace.  
  
The stateroom on the  _Sabre_  was luxurious, with a wide double bed that was certainly more comfortable than his bunk on Yavin 4. It had been a blissful few days as they’d been travelling to their destination, and a part of Luke didn’t want to get up, but to tell Mara to go back into hyperspace so that they could enjoy each other a bit longer.   
  
Mara’s tooka was curled up at Luke’s side, and he patted her head absently, wondering when she’d snuck into the stateroom. Elia purred and nuzzled her nose into Luke’s hand, as if justifying her presence. He scratched her obediently behind the ears and was rewarded with an increased and deepened rumbling from the animal’s throat.   
  
It had taken Mara an entire day to come up with a name for her new pet, making several lists which she had refused to show him. Eventually she’d chosen Elia, which was evidently the female variation of Elim, a character from one of her favourite operas. He’d laughed and jokingly called her pretentious, and she’d called him a ‘Rim yokel for naming his own pet after a foodstuff. But she’d made him a nerf and stout pie like she’d promised and had even given some of the leftovers to Patooga, making a wry comment about cannibalism.   
  
Luke smiled at the memory, and Elia wrapped her claw-like feet around his wrist and nudged him again.   
  
“Sorry, girl,” he told her, picking her up so he could sit up swing his legs out of the bunk. Elia used the opportunity to climb up his sleep shirt and perch herself on his shoulder, her claws finding purchase on his collarbone - thankfully with her talons retracted. Blearily, Luke rubbed his eyes as he sat for a few minutes on the edge of the bed, working up the will to get ready and join Mara in the cockpit.   
  
His gaze drifted to the the small table beside the bed which held a framed holo of Luke and Mara with the Solo family, taken at their wedding eight months previous. He’d given it to Mara as a gift, and Luke was gratified to see that she’d put the image in such a prominent position in her quarters. There was also a second frame which Luke had never seen before, and he grasped it curiously. It contained a holo of himself, but Luke wasn’t sure when it had been taken. He was looking off into the distance with a wistful expression on his face, obviously unaware that his image was being captured.   
  
“Awake yet, you lazy sod?” Mara’s warm voice came through the ship’s comm. Luke laughed and put the holo frame back in its place, hitting the comm button. “Give me a few minutes.”  
  
“Hurry up,” came Mara’s reply. “You know how your sister gets when we’re late.”  
  
That was enough to finally force Luke out of bed, and he padded towards the refresher, sliding the door behind him so Elia couldn’t follow. He’d learned that the hard way with Patooga, who seemed to make it his mission to know the whereabouts of his owner at all times.  
  
It didn’t take long for Luke to get ready and join Mara in the cockpit, feeling alert and refreshed. Elia had found her way there as well, curled up on the console and watching everything with her dark, star-speckled eyes.   
  
“I still don’t think it’s fair that I couldn’t bring Patooga with us,” Luke said as he sat in the co-pilot’s chair. He’d left the wonat with Kyp Durron on Yavin, who’d promised to look after him while Luke was away.   
  
“My ship, my rules,” Mara told him. “That mutt of yours is way too friendly and isn’t ‘fresher-trained.”  
  
Luke couldn’t disagree, and turned his attention out the viewscreen to the planet looming before them - New Alderaan. It was much like its namesake, a planet of blue and white and green indicating deep, spacious seas, dense forests and snow-capped mountains. Unlike the original, however, New Alderaan was in the shadow of a nebula that dominated the star system long thought uninhabitable. It had been discovered in the early days of the Rebellion, but had been discarded as a potential base due to the slightly gaseous atmosphere.   
  
After the forming of the New Republic, however, Alderaanian refuge scientists had turned their attention to the planet and terraforming options. The planet already had the requisite mountains, seas and vast, fertile plains they had been searching for, all that was needed was a slight alteration of the atmosphere to make it breathable. The experiment had worked, allowing for colonisation with no adverse affect on the planet’s habitation.   
  
“It’s really quite lovely,” Mara commented as she worked the control panel to steer them towards the planet.   
  
“It is,” Luke agreed. “I don’t come here as often as I should.”  
  
“Bad memories?” Mara asked in an offhand manner and cast him a wry glance.  
  
Luke pursed his lips. “We lost it to the Empire a few times,” he said shortly. “Once to the Emperor Reborn’s forces.”  
  
Mara’s expression softened, and she looked back out at the planet coming towards them as she took them into the upper atmosphere. “I didn’t know.”  
  
Luke appreciated her restraint - despite their previous discussions on the subject, it was still a sore point for him.   
  
“You weren’t around much then,” he commented, a wistful regret that he hadn’t sought her out for assistance. She was the only other person in the galaxy who knew the Emperor like he did - better than he did - and would have made a great ally against the renewed threat. And yet...it hadn’t been that long after the Thrawn Crisis and Luke had seen how hard it had been for Mara to face C’Baoth. She’d shown her mettle in that conflict, but her psyche had still been brittle - Luke hadn’t wanted to put her in danger of breaking.   
  
But...perhaps he’d also been young and brash and arrogant, convinced that he could defeat the dark side threat all by himself. Now he knew better - that asking for help wasn’t a weakness, and that he didn’t need to take so much upon himself. If only he’d learned that lesson sooner.   
  
“What’s done is done,” Mara gave him a reassuring smile, picking up on his surface thoughts. Her Force sense was like a balm against his, urging him to let go of the past. “Tell me about this celebration,” she promoted him.  
  
“Leia tells me it's an Alderaanian tradition,” Luke answered, grateful to move on. “The Equinox signalled the beginning to spring, when both the day and night were of equal duration. The holiday was therefore thought to have an influence on growth and fertility - farmers would plant crops, and young couples would…” He trailed off, gesturing with one hand.   
  
Mara gave him a knowing look, the corner of her mouth twisting into a smirk.   
  
“Or so Leia tells me,” Luke repeated, trying to look nonchalant.   
  
“I’m beginning to think you had an ulterior motive for bringing me here,” Mara said lightly, steering the ship across white mountain peaks and lush green forests towards the city of New Aldera.  
  
“I always have an ulterior motive when it comes to you, Mara,” Luke teased, and sent her a playful nudge through their bond. Elia raised her head to look at him curiously with her starscape eyes, and Luke wondered if the creature was sensitive to the Force.   
  
“If only we were alone in this cockpit,” Mara said slyly, reaching forward to pat Elia gently on the head. “I might have been inclined to act on those motives. But alas,” she sighed theatrically and refocused her attention on flying the ship. “We’re not.”   
  
“You’re a cruel woman, Mara,” Luke said with good humor, and stood to finish the preparations for landing, her light laugh following him through the ship.   
  


* * *

  
New Aldera was barely a decade old, and yet was a faithful recreation of Alderaan’s capital city - at least as far as Luke could tell based on Leia’s descriptions and images he’d seen in Coruscant’s historical archives. Sleek buildings of gleaming silver and white lined the cobblestoned streets, and between them were multitudes of trees, plants and flowers. It was a symbiosis, and representative of Alderaan’s greatest and most treasured philosophy: the balance between civilisation and nature.   
  
The Piazza Organa was a wide cobblestoned square forming the city’s major meeting and artistic space. Various buskers and street artists gave performances, and merchants were set up to ply their wares to the throng of locals and tourists who gathered to celebrate the day festivities for the Equinox.   
  
In the centre of the Piazza was a stepped-down amphitheatre, which housed the full Alderaanian orchestra in a rare public performance. Luke didn’t recognise the music, but could see the reminiscence on Leia’s face and the appreciation on Mara’s, indicating that it must be a well-known Alderaanian piece. Luke would have enjoyed it regardless of its origins, moved by the sweeping strings and hauntingly beautiful woodwinds. He applauded heartily when the performance ended, but subdued his enthusiasm slightly when he saw Leia discreetly wipe away a tear.   
  
“Leia,” he touched his sister’s arm gently. “Do you want to show me the Galleria now?”  
  
“Of course,” she patted his hand and gave him a broad smile, her gratitude obvious. “Mara?”  
  
“I think I’ll stay here,” Mara told them and nodded towards the orchestra. “They’ll start again in a few minutes.”  
  
Not one to argue with his wife’s love of the symphony, Luke left her to enjoy the music and let Leia lead him to where the art gallery was located, linking her arm in his as they ambled across the square. Every now and then people would smile and either bow or curtsey to Leia, and she nodded to them all with warm acceptance. A small child ran over exuberantly and handed Leia a bunch of wildflowers, which she received with grace and enthusiasm, clearly making the young girl’s day. Luke had always thought politics was his sister’s natural habitat, but now he saw that it was here, among her people who had taken them into their hearts. It was clear that she returned their love and devotion, never refusing a gift, request or conversation, even though it meant their short journey across the Piazza took almost an hour.   
  
The Galleria was housed in a domed structure of stained glass, and the effect as they entered almost took Luke’s breath away. A thousand colours danced across the smooth marble floor of the Galleria, giving the room a vibrant rainbow-like aura not unlike the nebula which dominated the star system above them. The entire glassed dome depicted scenes from Alderaanian history, from the Killiks to the modern royal houses, and legends including the dryads and sprites said to have once populated the orowood forests. At the very apex of the dome was depicted an ethereal woman with dark eyes, tan skin and long flowing black hair haloed by blue light. Her arms were slightly outstretched, and in one palm she held a sapling, and in the other a human child.   
  
“That is the Great Mother,” Leia told him softly, following his gaze upwards.   
  
“She’s beautiful,” Luke breathed, struck by the luminous quality the artist had been able to capture - it almost seemed as if her dark eyes were looking back at him, right into his soul. But the moment passed as his attention was torn away by Leia tugging lightly on his arm, leading him over to the centre of the room where a tall sculpture stood on a short dais.   
  
It was carved from the finest white marble, depicting a man and a woman in long, flowing robes. The detail was incredible, and Luke immediately recognised the faces he had seen a thousand times in holos on Leia’s walls: Bail and Breha Organa.  
  
Luke covered Leia’s hand on his arm with his own and squeezed lightly. For a moment they held back, watching as other patrons of the Galleria pay their respects to the couple as they passed. It was easy to spot the tourists from Alderaanian natives, for the latter all performed the same ritual, approaching the dais and resting their hands against Breha’s stone feet, peeking out from beneath her dress. Many of them turned away with tears in their eyes.  
  
Finally, Leia indicated that they should approach, and she performed the same ritual, her small hand resting on the stone. However she lingered longer than the others, her eyes riveted on the marble faces of her parents as a tear slipped down her cheek. Luke felt a wave of sorrow from his sister, making his own heart ache. But then as quickly as it had come, Leia’s pain was smothered back down into the deep place inside her soul, as she withdrew her hand from the sculpture and turned to Luke with an encouraging smile.   
  
Taking his cue from her, Luke reached up to place his own hand lightly over the marble foot of Breha Organa’s likeness as he had seen the others do. He had thought it strange that the Queen would have been depicted barefoot when otherwise she possessed a regal divinity, but as he lay his hand over the spot, smooth and slightly discoloured from the touch of thousands before him, Luke felt he understood. It was connectivity, both between sentient beings and nature, and between each other.  
  
On the dais were engraved two set of quotes, words in High Galactic edged into the marble with a flowing script. Luke let his hand drop back to his side and murmured the words to himself.   
  
“ _The rule of one must always be subject to the will of the many_  - Her Supreme Majesty Breha Jacenta Organa, High Queen of Alderaan.”  
  
Beside him, Leia swallowed heavily and nodded. Luke’s gaze then drifted to the second set of words engraved into the stone dais below Breha’s.  
  
“ _Silence in the face of tyranny speaks consent_  - His Serene Highness Bail Prestor Antilles Organa, Viceroy of Alderaan.”   
  
“He often used to say that,” Leia told him fondly, reaching forward and tracing the words with her fingertips. “In a pique of teenage anger I once accused him of hypocrisy, for how else could he describe his support of the Empire?” She smiled ruefully at the memory. “That was the day he told me about the Rebellion, and I took his place in the Senate a year later.”  
  
Luke had often wondered about those dangerous years of her life; the Imperial Senator moonlighting as a Rebel spy. He’d once been somewhat jealous that she’d been chosen by Bail Organa to take into his home and his family - that she’d grown up in wealth and beauty and privilege as the acknowledged daughter of a great family, where his dispatchment to Tatooine seemed like an afterthought. But Luke had learned to treasure those years of his life - they hadn’t been easy and the work on the moisture farm had often been difficult - but they had been safe. He hadn’t been required to wear Imperialism like a cloak and work in the shadows where trusting the wrong person meant all could be lost. He wasn’t sure he would have done as well in Leia’s place.   
  
“I suppose...actions can break a silence as well as words,” Luke said thoughtfully.   
  
Leia’s smile was broader this time, and she rubbed his arm affectionately. “That’s what he would have said.”   
  
They moved between the various exhibits, artworks and installations, including a life-sized sculpture of a dancing Twi’lek by an unknown artist and an interactive piece which replicated the Alderaanian asteroid field. Various partitions had also been erected around the room to hang paintings and other two-dimensional works. The famous  _Killik Twilight_  was there, as well as a portrait of Queen Breha holding a white dove, vintage Rebellion propaganda posters, various landscape paintings depicting orowood forests and snow-capped mountains and several agonising, abstract works by artists expressing themselves about Alderaan’s destruction.   
  
They soon stopped before a large oil-painting depicting a beautiful woman with shortly cropped, brownish-blonde hair and a mysterious smile. She wore the royal blues of the House of Organa, although even with the little Luke knew about Alderaanian fashion he could see that the style was different from the norm - her dress was light and flowing and bare at the shoulders, as opposed to the formal styles and thick silks found in the rest of the royal portraits.   
  
“Her name was Sabé,” Leia said softly.   
  
“You knew her?” Luke asked, although he shouldn’t have been surprised.   
  
“She was my governess,” Leia said, her eyes still on the painting. “And later, my tutor.”   
  
“She wasn’t from Alderaan?”  
  
“No,” Leia shook her head. “She was from a small planet called Naboo. My father knew her during the Clone Wars.”  
  
“Naboo?” Luke searched his memory. “Wasn’t that Palpatine’s home planet?”  
  
Leia gave him a wry look. “Hence why it was no longer safe for her there.” Then she sighed wistfully. “She used to tell me and Winter of her homeworld, and how it was very much like Alderaan, and yet so different. We have no formal festival celebrating the new year, but Sabé would tell us of the First Night and Naboo Fete Week, and invite us to her quarters where there would always be a feast of sweetcakes and mincemeats.” A broad smile of gentle remembrance spread across Leia’s face. “We would gorge ourselves, give statements of thankfulness, and exchange wishes for the year ahead. Sabé would always wish for the same thing: an end to the Empire, so that someday she could take me to Naboo.”   
  
"She wanted to to see her homeworld,” Luke said softly.  
  
“I always felt as if she was on the verge of telling me something," Leia said, her expression wistful as she gazed at Sabé 's image. "Like she had some great secret she desperately wanted to share, but couldn't do it until we were there."  
  
Luke looked at the portrait again, the woman's delicate features and deep brown eyes, and imagined her with darker, longer hair.   
  
"She...looks a lot like you, Leia," he said carefully. "You don't think..."  
  
"No," Leia shook her head. "That wasn't it. I don't remember what our mother looked like, but I know what she _felt_ like. I did feel a...kinship with Sabé, though. Not like a mother - but a great friend. But now all her secrets are lost."   
  
They lingered before Sabé's portrait for some time, with Leia sharing her memories, and Luke drinking them in. It was so rare for Leia to speak of her youth, and Luke liked to imagine that he had been there with her, that he had shared those experiences like a brother should.  
  
"I remember she used to have these tea rituals twice a week," Leia told him wistfully, gazing at the painting. "She would only ever say that she was remembering an 'dear old friend'. When I was older she would let me take tea with her, and we would discuss everything from politics to the latest fashions.” Leia sighed and brought the small bunch of flowers the young girl had given her to her face, inhaling their soft scent. “I miss that."  
  
"There's nothing stopping you from carrying on the tradition," Luke pointed out. "Remembering her as she remembered her friend."  
  
"You're right.” Leia hooked her arm in his again and moved them onto the next exhibit. Luke could sense that she wanted to end the discussion, but it was likely she would contemplate it later, in private when she was better equipped to deal with such memories. As they passed through the various artworks, Luke made a mental note to ask Mara what kind of tea they drank on Naboo.  
  
“I have a gift for you.” Leia told them as they were examining a series of busts representing past Queens of Alderaan.   
  
“I didn’t realise that you gave gifts on the Equinox.”  
  
“We don’t,” Leia smiled at him. “But it’s a sister perogative.” She tucked her flowers into her belt and reached into the pockets of her dress, withdrawing a small statue carved from the red bark of an orowood tree.   
  
Luke took the statue and stared at it in his palm for a few moments. Then he looked up at the stained glass above them, confirming that the idol was indeed a representation of Alderaan’s revered mother goddess, although her hands were folded softly over a distended belly and she wore a wreath crown.  
  
“It’s a fertility blessing,” Leia told him with a sly smile, in case there had been any doubt in his mind.   
  
“Why are you giving it to me?” he asked innocently.   
  
“You don’t have as many secrets as you think, Luke,” Leia chided him. “Or are you going to stand there and tell me you and Mara aren’t trying?”  
  
“We’re not... _trying_ ,” Luke explained, deeply uncomfortable discussing such private matters, even with his sister. But he had no hope concealing them from her, and resigned himself to her gentle probe. “We’re just...letting nature run it course.”  
  
“I see,” Leia gave him an indulgent smiled and ruffled his hair, and Luke had never felt more like her kid brother. “Well that’s what the Equinox is for,” she reminded him. “The creation of new life.”   
  
“Is that why you insisted Mara and I come?” he asked her, amused that Mara had accused him of ulterior motives when really it had all been Leia’s machinations. Not that Luke minded - he would take any excuse to spend time with his wife.   
  
“I don’t deny that it would be nice to have a niece or nephew to spoil,” Leia told him. “I think I’ve been very patient so far.”   
  
Luke rolled his eyes and and stashed the statue away in his cloak. “Well, I’ll do my best, Leia.”  
  
“That’s all I ask.” Leia gave him a broad smile without a hint of irony, and pulled him along to the next exhibit.


	2. Night

As night fell on New Alderaan, Mara and Luke made their way to the vast grasslands which surrounded the city, following the crowd of people and torches which lit up the path to the sacred sites.

In contrast to the sombre and civilised behaviour in the city that day, the crowd of citizens and visitors was vibrant, simmering with a barely contained excitement. Mara gathered that the shift in tone was to be expected - the day's festivities had celebrated the pinnacle of Alderaani culture; art, music and dignified reflection.  That night, however, would be a very different kind of revelry. The crowds had abandoned their modest, formal dresses, tunics, and capes of Royal Organa blues and senatorial whites for free-flowing clothes every other colour of the rainbow. Although there was a spring chill in the air, Mara saw the high collars and stiff fabrics of the day replaced with low necklines, bare backs and exposed arms. There were many among the crowd dressed specially for the occasion, donning stylised costumes meant to resemble dryads, sprites and other creatures. She saw one woman wearing a gold headdress in the likeness of a cairoka bird, and several men with the red antlers of orowood deers.

Mara herself had purchased a new dress earlier that day; a taupe bodice of woven barkcloth and red stitching which gave the look and texture of orowood, and a sheer vinesilk skirt of forest green which shimmered when she moved. The dress also had soft shoulder patches made to resemble the rainbow lichen which grew on the orowood trees, and were luminescent in the dark. The lichen also made up the circlet she wore in her unbound hair, and which would also start to glow as the night wore on. Her feet were bare, in keeping with tradition, and the dewy grass was soft under her toes.

Luke's hand slipped into hers as they came to a small stream on the outskirts of the city, and he helped her navigate across the stepping stones without her skirts dipping into the water. Mara smiled warmly at him, giving him a playful nudge in the Force, and then a physical nudge in the shoulder once they were safely across.

"So gallant," she teased him, but did not let go of his hand. Luke had declined to wear anything as daring or ostentatious as many others, sticking to black trousers, a black silk shirt and a sleeveless wool vest which hung down to his mid-thigh. When Mara had questioned him, Luke had pointed to his gold cufflinks in the shape of three curved lines intersecting at the middle point, and claimed that it was representative of the Alderaanian air spirits. Legend was that one such spirit had fallen in love with a dryad, and during the day the wind would blow softly to rustle the orowood tree that was her home, but at night both could take corporeal form and dance in the moonlight.

Mara had appreciated the symbolism, and had suggested teasingly that perhaps he could complete the effect with the tiara he'd acquired on Corellia Day - he was the brother of Alderaan's princess, after all. He'd smirked and offered to wear the tiara if she beat him a sabacc game. Mara had scowled and said he looked fine after all - she was yet to best him at sabacc, a fact which still rankled. She'd won a game here and there, but only when she'd employed less than scrupulous methods.

They finally reached the location of that night's ceremony, a ring of standing stones located in the middle of a grassy meadow. Leia was already there, standing in the ring beside a central stone, taller and smoother than those surrounding it. She alone wore blue, a long flowing gown glittering with small pinprick gemstone. Her hair was loose and flowing down her back, and she wore a wreath crown which gave her an ethereal appearance. She was talking quietly with a priestess in red robes and a golden headdress, and Luke and Mara made their way through the crowd to the edge of the stone circle where Winter Celchu was standing. She wore a dress which almost seemed to be made of living flame; crimsons, oranges and golds shimmering in the light material as the soft breeze gently rustled her skirts. In her unbound silver-white hair she wore a circlet of gemstones which glimmered a deep red in the firelight. Her husband Tycho stood next to her in a fashionable scaled breastplate and a headpiece that appeared to resemble that of a Killik

Luke greeted them both warmly, pulling Tycho into a hug and patting his back, then embracing Winter and kissing her cheek. As always Mara waited to gauge how best to greet Luke's friends, still slightly uncomfortable with such effusive displays. But she allowed both Winter and Tycho to kiss her cheek, although thankfully with more restraint than they'd shown Luke.

"Where are Han and the kids?" Luke enquired, looking around for the rest of his family.

"It seems they were tired after helping with the planting rituals today," Winter told them. "So Han offered to look after them tonight."

"He was happy to get out of wearing the new clothes Leia bought for him," Tycho said with a wink.

"You weren't so lucky, I see," Mara said pointedly, looking at his headpiece with antenna.

Tycho looked himself up and down with mock surprise. "Don't you like it, Mara? he teased. "I picked this out myself."

"Sadly, he did," Winter sighed theatrically as her gaze drifted to Luke.

Mara poked her husband in the ribs. "See?" she needled him. "You could have picked something more interesting."

But Winter gave Luke's outfit a nod of approval. "No, I like it," she said, resting her hand gently on Luke's forearm to examine a cufflink. "The wind spirits were serious and knowledgeable creatures, the oldest of the Great Mother's children. They say when she first came to Alderaan the planet was barren - left so by the Killiks." She gave her husband a pointed look, but Tycho just shrugged and adjusted his pincers.

"She let out a great breath," Winter continued, tracing the symbol on Luke's cufflink. "Making the mountains rise and the seas churn, and so the wind spirits were born, charged with blowing away all remnants of those before. Then she bled onto the great plains, and where her tears fell orowood trees took root." Winter gave Mara's dress an approving look up and down. "Soon entire forests had grown, but only in those original trees lived dryads. You aware of the legend of the wind spirit who fell in love with one such creature?"

"I've heard of it," Luke nodded, giving Mara a quick wink.

"It's a beautiful story," Winter smiled. "He showed her the world outside her forest, and she taught him how to dance."

Luke took Mara's hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, and she had been so interested in Winter's words that she did not tease him again. Instead, he and Tycho fell into conversation about the latest model of X-Wing, with Tycho extremely keen on the improved propulsion systems and Luke lamenting that no new model seemed to have the dexterity of his old T-65.

"It is good to see you, Mara," Winter said in her light voice which as always failed to betray any emotion. Mara had always found the woman hard to read because of this, although she counted her among the friends she had acquired by virtue of her marriage to Luke. Mara understood Winter's aloofness and stoicism better than most, but she still struggled to discern what was going through her precise mind at any time.

"It certainly has atmosphere," Mara commented, looking back over the crowd who were waiting for the celebration to begin, happily engaged in greetings and conversations in the meantime. "Leia tells me you're the mastermind behind the festivities."

Winter smiled serenely, her gaze also sweeping over the assembly. "I remember the celebrations well from my youth. I hope this is a faithful recreation."

"I'm sure it is," Mara told her. "If the excitement of the crowd is anything to go by." Through the Force it felt like a light buzzing, a simmer of energy that was impossible to tune out.

"Having Leia here was crucial," Winter looked fondly over at her friend who had been joined by nine more priestesses in flowing scarlet dresses, each greeting Leia effusively in turn, leaning down and touching her bare feet and then embracing her.

"They still see her as their Princess," Mara observed, not missing the reverent and excited looks the crowd were giving Leia.

Winter smiled. "More like their Queen."

Mara inclined her head in thought. "I suppose that is more appropriate."

"It is more than that," Winter told her seriously. "The Queen of Alderaan is the embodiment of the Great Mother in the mortal realm - through her all life is possible."

Mara was surprised by the sudden passion from the usually composed Winter. "I didn't realise until today that Alderaanian people still held such beliefs."  She had never really associated Alderaan with tree spirits and nature gods, but now she saw that it was a vital aspect of their culture all too often ignored.

"We value reason and justice, this is true," Winter explained, but her words were kindly. "But the mind cannot live without the heart, and so they exist in symbiosis. We seek truth and knowledge to nourish our minds, and this is found in our communion with one another, our intellectual society. Yet to nourish the heart we must look elsewhere - to the beauty of the world that sustains us; to give ourselves over to the divine and achieve enlightenment through the understanding that there are things we cannot know or comprehend."

The necessity of the heart was something Mara was still getting used to, but she found Winter's words moving. Months ago, at the end of the Midwinter Festival, she'd told Luke that she wanted to give herself over to possibility of having a child with him, to relinquish control over it. Perhaps there was something to be said for the Alderaanian concept of balance, and a place for giving oneself up to the unknown.

When she looked back at Winter the woman was smiling, as if she'd somehow guessed where Mara's thoughts dwelt.

"Why do they wear red?" Mara enquired, wishing to avoid an awkward line of questioning she was sure Winter was about to launch into, and nodding towards the priestesses gathered in the standing stones.

"Blue is the colour of royalty and civility," Winter explained, although her knowing smile remained. "It is the sky above us and the oceans that surround us and sustain us. Red is the colour of passion, of fire, that which women bleed in order to give life."

"And the ceremony?"

Winter looked back over at the ring of standing stones, and the red priestesses inside.  "They will dance and invoke the spirit of the Great Mother - the Sacred Circle symbolises life renewing itself, with no beginning or end. Then they will each choose someone from the crowd to dance in the circle with them - a great honour."

Mara smirked. "I'm sure."

Any further discussion was halted when it became clear the ceremony was about to start, with Leia and the head priestess standing in the centre of the henge facing the crowd and each of the other priestesses standing before one of the nine stones which made up the circle. The crowd soon quietened, and Mara felt Luke's hand slip back into hers as Leia began to speak.

Her voice was clear, carrying through the meadow with ease, and yet the words were unfamiliar. Mara soon identified it as Old Alderaanian, a language which had been briefly explained by her tutors but never taught. Essentially a dead language for anywhere other than on Alderaan itself, it was of no particular use in her studies since she would never be required to employ it.  Still, hearing the lyrical words Mara could appreciate them and follow the gist of Leia's speech - a welcome to family and guests and likely a summary of the philosophy Winter had already shared with her. It was brief enough, for soon Leia gestured to the gathered musicians outside the stone circle, carrying traditional reed pipes and other instruments which appeared to be fashioned from native flora. They began to play, the music primitive but soulful, and Mara soon found herself carried away by the sweeping tune.

The nine priestesses began to dance inside the stone circle, their hands performing fluid and flowing movements in the air as their bare feet traveled lightly across the grass. They kept to their ring, occasionally joining hands as they danced and spun around Leia in the centre. The head priestess began to chant, waving her staff and lifting up her hands as if invoking some greater power. Then Leia began to sing.

Mara was surprised by the beautiful tone of Leia's voice - she'd heard her sing before of course, but never like this. Her bright, clear voice was raised in a song of Old Alderaani, underscored by the chanting of the head priestess as the others danced around, their bodies fluid and light as they moved through their spins and turns, red robes fluttering lightly in the breeze.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or perhaps it was simply the excitement of the crowd which bleed through the Force, but when Mara looked at Leia again her skin and hair seemed slightly darker, the features of her face slightly sharper. She had become the very image of the Great Mother, the same likeness that Mara had seen in glass and silks and monuments throughout the city.

The priestess' chanting became louder as the music swelled. The women swirled out of the henge in turn, each moving into the crowd and choosing a woman, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the dance. The last priestess approached Mara with purpose, and Mara shot Luke a suspicious look. But he shrugged, claiming ignorance, and a quick Force probe indicated he didn't know anything about it.

The priestess held out her hand and not wanting to spoil the festivities, Mara took it and allowed herself to be led between the standing stones and into the circle of women performing their ritual dance. In truth the music thrummed within her, and it was easy to pick up the steps, mimicking the priestesses which danced either side of her. She lifted her hands and allowed them to slide through the air, her bare feet drifting gracefully across the soft grass.

It had been so long since she had danced this freely, and Mara gave herself over to the movement. Her body fell easily into the rhythms of the music, her limbs moving easily as she spun around in concert with the other dancers. Through the Force she felt a surge of life, as if she was in harmony with the women who frolicked around her, and she understood why they would feel as if they were touching the divine.

Mara looked back towards the crowd, and saw that it was a sea of dance, many singing and moving along with the music, arms outstretched up in the air as if in reverence to the spirits above. Luke, however, was still, just outside the circle and watching her intently as she continued to dance. Her eyes met his and she felt a flicker of electricity surge through her veins.

The priestess who had chosen her gave Mara a slight nudge of her hand and a knowing look, nodding to where Luke was standing. Mara didn't need to be told twice, moving out between the stones as Leia's song reached a crescendo. Winter and Tycho were dancing themselves, arms tight around each other and Mara walked past them to her husband.

Gone was the staid Jedi Master too conservative to wear bright colours; in his place was a man of reckless abandon, his eyes glinting like gold in the firelight. As she approached he grabbed her arms, drawing her close to kiss her passionately. He tasted like a hot summer breeze, and she breathed him in, never wanting to let go.

Luke grasped her wrist and led her through the crowd which stretched across the field, to the dense forest which grew at the northern edge. It was a thick and beautiful woodland mostly made of native oak trees, but the colonists had been able to cultivate orowood within the forest, notable by their brown and red bark and the lichen which glowed brightly in the night. They could still hear the sounds of the revelry in the distance and the music above that - no doubt wine would soon be served and the celebrations would go on long into the night. But Mara didn't care, allowing Luke to lead her deeper into the forest, the full moon above and the rainbow lichen providing more than enough illumination.

Gently pushing her back against an orowood tree, Luke covered her mouth with his, warm lips moving sensuously against hers. His lips were hot as he blazed a path down her neck, and Mara lent her head back against the trees to give him greater access. The bark scraped at her back but somehow it was welcome, as if the tree was there for the express purpose of sustaining her.

Mara sighed her husband's name into the night as he sucked on her clavicle, hard enough to leave a mark. She ran her hands through his hair as he cupped her breast through her dress, his thumb moving over her nipple which peaked and strained against the fabric. He tried to pull it down to expose her, but the bodice was too tight and his efforts were frustrated.

"It laces in the back," she breathed, and made to turn around but his firm hands on her hips stopped her. His darkened gaze looked her her hungrily as he moved his lips torturously over the swell of her breasts and the ridge of her dress. The night air was cold, but his mouth was scorching on her skin, making Mara shiver pleasantly.

Then he knelt down in the soft earth, his liquid gaze locked on hers. Agonisingly slowly, he pushed up her skirts, his warm hands on her bare legs spreading heat up through her to pool at the pit of her belly. Luke smirked when his fingers brushed the blaster holster strapped to her thigh, but said nothing - he was not about to be distracted.

When he reached her hips Mara bunched her hands around the folds of her skirt, holding it up so Luke could hook his thumbs around her underwear and draw it down over her legs, all the while his eyes locked on hers. He stowed the material away in the right pocket of his wool vest and then took hold of her hips once more.

She gasped as he tasted her, and one hand unconsciously left her skirt to clutch at his soft hair, urging him on. His mouth and tongue explored her, and Mara's head dropped back against the tree again. Her fevered breaths filled the silence of the woods - and yet it was not silence - she could hear the music still in the distance, but what was most clear to her was the rush of the wind through the trees, the rustling of leaves under Luke's knees as he shifted in the earth. She could feel his mouth on her, the incredible sensation it caused, making the blood in her veins catch alight and the tightly wound centre of her pleasure begin to unravel. But she could also feel the soft earth between her toes, the scrape of the bark against her back - the life that surrounded and encompassed them.

The moon was bright and full above her, and the night sky was not dark but full of deep blues, greens and pinks of the distant nebula. Her vision blurred at the increased pressure of Luke's tongue, and she looked down to see his head moving between her legs, bring her closer to oblivion. But it was not enough - she wanted to be  _with_  him.

"Luke," she half-moaned, half sighed, tugging slightly on his hair. He looked up at her a dark, intense gaze, and no further words were needed. He stood, pushing her back further against the the orowood tree so she was pinned between his body and the bark. Mara could feel him, hard and throbbing against her, and Mara let her hands wander a path down the sides of his neck, unbuttoning his tunic and caressing the planes of his chest and stomach.

"Mara," he let out a strangled groan, pressing harder against her. She unbuttoned his trousers without further delay, taking him into her hand and making him sigh with relief.

Luke kissed her, his mouth searingly hot as he rocked slightly against her. His hands took hold of her hips again, reaching around to caress and knead her rear and then lift her up until she was suspended between him and the tree. Mara wrapped her arms and her legs around him, held by his strong grip and trusting him not to let her fall.

She sighed with relief when they were finally one, her hands pressing tightly against his back, urging him on as he filled and stretched her. For a moment they were still, his forehead pressed into the curve of her neck and his Force sense grasping for hers. She caught it and pulled it to hers, feeling her own desire reflected back in him as they merged; their hearts beating in tandem. Luke began to move, biting down gently into the skin of her neck as he thrust up and into her.

Crying out into the night, Mara pulled him closer to her as his lips found hers again, his tongue sliding against her own. His movement inside of her built such incredible pressure, each thrust bringing them both closer to the edge, and though she sought sweet relief, Mara also never wanted it to end. She wanted always to be with him, to feel him moving inside of her, for them to be joined on such a physical and spiritual level she wondered how she could ever bring herself to be apart from him.

Between the distant music, the atmosphere of the forest and the exquisite pleasure of their union there was no need for words. Their bond in the Force solidified and expanded, and Mara was bombarded with the sensations of the forest around her, heightening their lovemaking to something greater.

They were the lifeblood of the orowood tree and the whisper of the midnight wind. They were the moon above and the earth below; they were the Force itself, life renewing itself through them and with them.

But most of all, they were each other.

 

* * *

 

 

When Luke and Mara returned to the  _Sabre_  at dawn, Elia was waiting for them by the landing legs. They'd let her out to roam the city rather than leaving her cooped up in the ship, and evidently she'd made use of that freedom by visiting the nearby aviaries. At the tooka's feet was a stiff, lifeless bird with bloody claw marks in its chest. Elia looked up at their approach, and proudly nudged her prey forward with one claw.

"I hope that isn't a rare bird," Luke commented. "Leia would kill us if your pet made some kind of Alderaanian species extinct."

Mara laughed and bent down to gather Elia in her arms, giving the tooka a proud scratch behind the ears. "Who's a clever hunter?" she cooed in a decidedly un-Mara like fashion. It made Luke smile to see it, and he followed Mara into the ship without further comment.

"I wonder if she thought we'd abandoned her yesterday?" Mara asked absently as they made their way to their stateroom and she deposited Elia on the bed. "So she brought us the bird to prove her worth." She scratched Elia's ears again, as if to reassure her.

"I don't know," Luke kissed Mara's cheek and then sat down next to Elia, stroking her back. "I'll have to ask Jacen if that's normal behaviour for a tooka."

"Hmmm." Mara gazed down at her pet in thought for a few moments, and Elia looked back up at her with large, star-speckled eyes. Apparently satisfied, Mara smiled and then shooed Elia away with her hand, and the tooka padded out of the stateroom, probably to find one of her secret crawlspaces.

Luke leant back on his hands and yawned, exhausted from lack of sleep. "So...good vacation?" he asked.

Mara, still standing, bent down to kiss his forehead lightly. "Yes," she said simply, the backs of two fingers tracing his cheek lightly. "It was very...enlightening."

"When do you get leave again?" he was unable to stop himself from asking.

Sighing, Mara hooked one leg up on the bed, lifting up her skirt to expose a slender leg with a holster attached to her thigh.

"Not sure, next month maybe." She pulled a small blaster out and dropped it on the side table next to the bed, then unstrapped the holster. The action drew Luke's attention to the holos she'd placed on the table, and in particular the frame with the unidentified picture of him. Deciding not to ruin the perfection of the past day with talk of their imminent separation, he latched onto a new topic.

"When did you take that?" Luke asked, nodding towards the holo.

"A few years ago," Mara told him, her voice deceptively light. But Luke did not miss the slight tensing of her shoulders. "On Yavin." She disappeared into the 'fresher and emerged a few minutes later, the grime from the previous night washed off her face and feet.

"I didn't know you were an amateur holographer," Luke said, watching her expression carefully.

Mara shrugged her shoulders. "It's habit, I suppose. When I was the Hand it was useful to surveil a target."

Luke raised a curious eyebrow, although he was unsurprised by the admission. "I hope you weren't surveilling me there."

"No," Mara laughed lightly, sitting down on the bed beside him. "I don't know why I took the image - I don't know why I kept it all these years."

"Are you sure?" he teased, nudging her slightly with his arm.

"Alright, maybe I do," she conceded, resting her head against his shoulder. "I just remember being...struck by you in that moment. You seemed so pensive - I suppose I wanted to capture the image, to see if it would help me figure you what you were thinking."

"Do you know what I'm thinking now?" he asked huskily, nuzzling her temple with his nose.

"I thought you were tired," Mara said dryly.

"I think I'm getting a second wind."

"Hmmm." Mara looked back to the holo on the side table. "I have quite the collection, now," she added slyly.

"Holos?" Luke asked. "Of me?"

"No, of cute bantha cubs and waterfalls," she rolled her eyes. "Of course of you."

"Can I see them?" Luke asked with half-excitement, half-dread.

"Farmboy," she kissed his cheek as she stood up and went to the dresser. "I don't want to make you blush."

" _Oh_." Luke felt his cheeks grow warm anyway. Then he furrowed his brow and looked at his wife curiously, humming happily to herself as she removed her earrings and plonked them down on the dresser. "When exactly did you take these holos?"

Mara shrugged as she took off her circlet. "When the right moment strikes. I have a rather nice one of you sleeping from our honeymoon - your bum looked so cute I couldn't resist."

Luke flushed harder. "I see," he said, and despite his embarrassment he was secretly flattered. "You know, I don't think you'd take it so well if the situation was reversed," he pointed out, "and _I_ had a secret stash of dirty holos."

Mara laughed as she crossed back to him. "You'd never be able to get one without me knowing."

Luke caught her arm and drew her back to stand in front of him. "Is that a challenge?"

Gently pushing his hair back from his forehead, Mara smiled, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Sure."

Luke tugged on her waist, bring her lips down to meet his in a searing kiss. Mara gasped against his mouth, then relaxed into his embrace, cupping his face in her hands and moving her body closer so that she was bracketed by his knees. However there was a soft thump as Mara's leg hit something hard inside his vest, and she broke away, looking down at him with wry amusement.

"I'd make a lightsaber joke," she said. "But it seems rather obvious."

"Ah." Luke withdrew the statue Leia had given him from the left pocket of his vest. "I forgot about this." He put it in his pocket before going down to the ceremony the previous night, planning on presenting it to Mara during the celebrations. However when he'd seen Mara dancing inside the standing stones, her movements graceful, her face flushed and luminous in the firelight, as free and happy as he'd ever seen her, he'd quite forgot about anything else.

"And why do you have it?" Mara's voice was all warm amusement.

"Leia," Luke said by way of explanation, holding the idol out to her. "It's the Great Mother...a fertility statue."

Mara raised a wry eyebrow and took it from him. "I see."

"I didn't say anything to her," Luke defended himself, but he could tell by Mara's expression that she wasn't mad, just bemused. She traced the face of the statue, examining the intricate carvings and stopping at the rounded belly.

"How is a statue going to have any influence?" Mara asked with clear scepticism. "It's just wood, Luke. Designed for tourists and over-anxious sisters-in-law."

Luke closed his hand over Mara's around the statue's belly, and he leaned down to kiss the outside of her wrist. "Apparently there those who believe the Great Mother was a Celestial," he told her, relaying the discussion he'd had with a theology professor at the Galleria the previous day when he'd asked about the stained glass in the Galleria. "They think she was responsible for the seeding of Alderaan with human life."

"And?"

"And the ways of the Force are mysterious," Luke told her with a grin, knowing that she'd felt so too only a few hours previous.

"Well." Mara studied the statue for a few more moments, and then placed it gently on the bedside table, next to her holos and spare blaster. When she turned back to Luke she was wearing a broad smile, and she cupped his face him her hands, leaning down to kiss him and murmur soft words against his mouth.

"Let's see how mysterious it really is."


End file.
